American Monotypes from the Baker/Pisano Collection | Page 32

Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
Au Salon, ca. 1878

Monotype, 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 in., Bears artist’s oval red-ink estate stamp
(Lugt 657) on support.
Baker/Pisano Collection, New York, promised gift to the
Chazen Museum of Art

The American connection of Edgar Degas stems from his birth
to an American mother and was cemented by a five-month
visit (1872–1873) to his maternal ancestral home in New
Orleans, where he stayed with relatives, including two young
brothers. Though he was born in France and his paternal line
was French, Degas liked to call himself un fils de Louisiane.
Degas began making monotypes in Paris between 1874 and
1875, concurrent with William Merritt Chase and his fellow
students at the Munich Academy. Degas, however, used the
medium as both works in and of themselves and the basis for
many of his pastels. His body of work in the medium includes
first impressions from support plates, and second impressions,
referred to as cognates. Degas described the process as
drawings made with greasy ink put through a press. There are
estimated to be about fifty brothel monotypes in existence; in
1958, Pablo Picasso purchased nine of them, describing these
provocative monotypes as “the best things [Degas] ever did.”*
Included in this purchase was Au Salon (Musée Picasso, Paris)
“…an exceptionally complex composition that brings together
nine prostitutes with the mistress of the house and a customer
in top hat.”**

NOTES:
For a fuller discussion on Degas’ brothel monotypes, see,
Bernheimer, “Degas’ Brothels,” 158–180.
Boggs et al., Degas, 297, cat. no. 181, illus.
**Clayson, Painted Love, 39, fig. 19.

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T H E E X H I B I T IO N

Janis, Degas Monotypes, cat. no. 82, illus.
*Lees, “Picasso Looks at Degas,” 134.
Lugt, Marques de Collections de Dessins et d’Estampes.